WIPs

Before getting started on new things I've been trying to get some of my WIP pile cleared. Several projects had got put on one side because I didn't want to sew them together whilst moving, or I didn't have anywhere to block them whilst moving. But I've been steaming ahead with some finishing.

I started this tea cosy way back in March, intended for a friend's birthday in April. Fortunately I haven't seen her yet and we'd only just exchanged our previous year's birthday and Christmas presents as I ran a little late with this one. But now it's finished. I realised once I was going that this is Fair Isle! The pattern is Terrific Tea Cosy from Rowan Classic Home and used almost exactly 3 balls of space dyed DK from Wentworth Yarns (as acquired on Skip North back in 2006!).

I finished off the Rib Fantastic socks, in Regia Designline Kaffe Fassett 4ply. I like the way the colours have worked out in these.

And I finally finished off Dylan's tank top and got it posted off to him. What a failure of an Auntie. Although I shouldn't think he's too bothered as he seemed much more interested in the wooden car transporter I sent him for his birthday than anything knitted. This is the basic vest pattern by Ann Budd, made in Peaches & Creme cotton.

Want to see some more of the house? This is my study/the spare room, which Monkey shares with Claudius my laptop, and quite a lot of yarn. Sometimes they let me in there too.

I've also finished a couple of books. Last month's reading group book was "The vanishing act of Esme Lennox" by Maggie O'Farrell. This is the first book in ages that I haven't been able to put down - it's totally compelling. Bizarrely at reading group all the women loved it, and the one man hated it! I loved the way it jumped backwards and forwards, allowing you to piece the story together from various recollections and accounts. Some parts felt strange - what was the significance of Iris' relationship with Alex, for instance? But on the whole it worked extremely well. It was also chilling to think about how easily a woman could be locked up in an asylum in those days, basically for doing very little other than not wanting to conform to society's expectations.

I was not as impressed by "A walk with Jane Austen" by Lori Smith. I found this very odd. It wasn't so much about walking with Jane Austen as about the author's own problems - I spent half the time wanting to shriek "get a grip" at her. Especially when she spends half the book mooning over "Jack", a relationship that never even comes to very much at all. Whilst it was interesting getting an American's view of a trip round England (and very amusing in places) some things didn't really add up for me - such as why was she being so energetic if she was really feeling that bad? The faith and Christianity parts also didn't fit at all well - there was nothing on the outside of the book that mentioned anything to do with religion and I found that these parts mostly really grated (and I'm a Christian!) - and might be a shock for many readers?
From the front cover: "A modern woman's search for happiness, fulfilment and her very own Mr Darcy" make it sound quite light-hearted, maybe verging on the chick lit, when it isn't actually at all! It's got mixed reviews, including someone who thinks it would be perfect for a "young woman's" reading group. Hmm. Yeah.

Ah well, August's reading group book is "The reluctant fundamentalist", which I'm currently reading... and it's already proving better than walking with Jane Austen.

Swine flu

Yes, both Monkey and I succumbed to swine flu last week. Fortunately the Other Half hasn't caught it (yet) as he was kept very busy doing the shopping, cleaning the house, supplying bananas and providing TLC.

Mine hasn't been too bad. I'd been feeling a bit funny for a couple of days, just tired really and had been having early nights, then fainted in the library last week! Ironically I'd actually been feeling better that morning and had been climbing wobbly 18th century ladders and all sorts of similar things. Then I passed out at the end of the morning, just like some 18th century heroine! Once I'd picked myself up off the ancient carpet I got hold of the OH who came charging straight over to the library, announced that I felt hot and suggested that he took me home & I try and get a doctor's appointment. Which he did; he then had to hang around all afternoon whilst I slept, as I didn't manage to get a doctor's appointment until after 5pm! Of course, this was happening at exactly the same time as the Pandemic Flu Information thingy was going live and then immediately crashing, which meant we couldn't use that to check my symptoms.

Anyway, I've been doing lots of sleeping. It hasn't been as bad as "normal" flu, and it's been a massive help having the OH around as it would have been grim being like this on my own in a flat in Slough! Fortunately also the doc wouldn't prescribe Tamiflu as I'd already taken a course of it six weeks ago when there was an outbreak at work and the Health Protection Agency was still attempting to contain it. As I suspected six weeks ago, taking Tamiflu is MUCH worse than having swine flu.

Monkey, on the other hand, has really suffered. Presumably man-swine-flu is worse than swine flu, and therefore monkey-man-swine flu has got to be Really Serious? He has spent the time lolling around, complaining he feels cold and stealing my dressing gown to wrap round himself. Oh, and I found him throwing up down the side of the sofa, but I think the OH may have had something to do with that.


I'm definitely on the mend now. I finished off another WIP, which I'll post about soon. Then I was going to get started on my next project, Narvik, from Rowan 42 (after buying the yarn at Get Knitted when I did the crochet workshop last year), realised that 7mm needles are the one size I don't possess, trotted off to find some on the Celticove website, discovered the clearance section and ended up buying 15 balls of Mirasol Sulka in sage as well. So much for the yarn diet, but then I think I need cheering up after the swine flu, don't I? And it's Fair Trade yarn, so that's even better, surely?

Staines

The house move has been accomplished.
Between us we had three lorries. The Other Half had 63 boxes of stuff, I didn't have quite as many, but still quite a few. We had boxes stacked everywhere. We had to have a one way system to get round the living room.

Thanks to the Herculean efforts of the Other Half, all the boxes have been unpacked and removed by the removal company. Oh, and Monkey's Herculean efforts too, obviously.

(note to Other Half: did you actually see Monkey unpacking anything? He looks totally knackered in the pic but all I ever saw was him lounging around?)

Once the boxes had disappeared we were free to enjoy the comforts of the new house:

The garden. I washed all my handknitted scarves and hung them out to dry. It is VERY nice having a garden again. Yes, that is a train in the background.

The garage. Which is VERY narrow, and our road is, ahem, popular for car parking, so it can be very tight getting into the garage. So Oxo got scraped. Oops. Sorry Oxo.

Walks along the banks of the Thames.

The posh kitchen.


We have a dishwasher in the kitchen. I am in love with the dishwasher. I think it's great. It's so clever. No more washing up! I am also in love with the washing machine, which didn't come with the house, it belongs to the Other Half. It's a very posh washing machine, and much more intelligent than me. I have reassured the Other Half that I don't love the dishwasher and washing machine as much as I love him. (and anyway, he's very good at loading and unloading the dishwasher and washing machine, as well as doing ALL the housework. So all I have to do is cook! And a little bit of ironing. Cool or what?!)

The commute to work. Which is very cool indeed. It's a short trot to the station, then 13 minutes on the train, then a 10 minute trot to work. In fact, 13 minutes is proving a little too short a commute to get much knitting done. Plus, commuting OUT of London means that there are loads of seats. The trains have air conditioning. Apart from one day, the trains have all been on time or early so far. This is SO much better than driving through Slough to work every day...

Walking in Windsor Great Park:

And I've even got some knitting done. The Rib Fantastic socks are nearing completion! I'm trying to get a few projects finished off before I start anything new.

The recent lack of knitting

The eagle-eyed may have noticed a massive decrease in the amount of knitting I've done over the last two months. There is a reason. Exciting things have been going on in part of my life that appeared to be in terminal decline. And I'm very happy about it. ;-)

Yes, Monkey and the nephews are no longer the only men in my life. Actually, are they men at all? One is a knitted monkey and the other two are small, noisy, energetic sprogs who like making Play-Doh hair with garlic crushers and making their Auntie get up horribly early to read books about Big Diggers when she's on holiday with them.

Anyway, a picture I took with a certain someone, as we wandered along the South Bank and watched sunset over the Houses of Parliament.



And I may have got slightly diverted into Stash on the same day and came away with some Koigu PPPM (you would have thought a trip to a yarn shop was enough to frighten any man off, especially on a first date, but not this one). And some people, like Nickerjac, Grit and Michaela saw him (briefly) that day!

Other places we have wandered over the weeks:

Cookham, where we had some lunch, then had a look in the church (bits of which date back to the Saxons), saw Stanley Spencer's grave and then

wandered by the Thames in the (sort of) sunshine.

Another time we wandered along the Thames a bit further down and stopped at Boulter's Lock,

which was evidently a bit busier in Victorian times.

We've also wandered around Wandsworth Common. This is the station, which featured in the film "The Waiting Room", which I borrowed from him a few weeks ago. I loved the film, it appealed to my soppy nature.

And there's a great bookshop (LibraryThing link) nearby too. Very small, but one of those independent ones that somehow manages to pack an enormous amount into a tiny space.

I've had a similarly detrimental effect on the number of books he's getting read...

This Christmas I learnt...

... that garlic crushers and Play-Doh make fantastic "hair". And purple and yellow Play-Doh mushed together make a muddy colour.

How much I've missed having a cat around. Sweep arrived from the rescue place to keep my Mum company a week before Christmas and is settling in well (apart from being terrified by my nephews). All attempts to convince him that he'd love to live in a small flat in Slough rather than a large house with garden in Lincoln have so far failed...


There were baby monkeys present at the birth of Christ. (I'm not convinced about this one, but Monkey said it was true).

And the frost on the top of my car looks very pretty. And I might not have been late for work if I'd got on with scraping it off the windscreen rather than taking photos of it.

I haven't read any blogs for over a fortnight - I had very limited internet access over the Christmas holiday and my laptop is really on its last legs now! However, a new one should be en route to me as I type!